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    • SpaceX Starship launches from Starbase; booster catch canceled
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    SpaceX Starship launches from Starbase; booster catch canceled

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    SpaceX successfully began the sixth test launch of its Starship vehicle on Tuesday, marking a milestone for future human spaceflight.

    The spacecraft began its planned trajectory over the Gulf of Mexico at 5:00 PM ET, following a similar trajectory to previous flights. For the third time in a row, the vehicle’s 72-meter “Super Heavy” rocket crashed off the coast of Texas seven minutes after launch.

    The spacecraft also includes the 165-foot Starship spacecraft itself, which was expected to fly for over an hour before its scheduled crash into the Indian Ocean.

    As for the booster, SpaceX officials hoped to replicate what they first did in the previous test, autonomously sending it back to the landing pad before catching it with two giant mechanical arms. However, during the flight, officials decided to forego the booster catch, which was not guaranteed because it did not meet the required safety criteria.

    The company also wanted to reignite its Raptor engine in space to attempt an orbital burn — a necessary maneuver to perform deorbit burn on future orbital missions. Tuesday’s launch also included plans to fly the ship at a “higher angle of attack” to test what it can handle in future landings.

    SpaceX envisions the powerful spacecraft as a fully reusable transportation system that can carry both people and cargo to Earth’s orbit, the moon and even Mars.

    The spaceship’s return is scheduled for Wednesday

    SpaceX will later stream continuing coverage of Starship’s return, flip maneuver and expected splashdown Wednesday, about an hour after launch at 5 p.m. ET.

    The spacecraft will play a crucial role in NASA’s lunar ambitions amid a heated international space race to return to the moon. As part of the U.S. space agency’s ambitious Artemis campaign, the first lunar program since the Apollo era of the 1970s, NASA is paying SpaceX $4 million to develop a spacecraft that will carry astronauts safely from Earth orbit to the surface can transport from the moon.

    Last week, the massive 400-foot mega rocket was rolled out to SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, near Brownsville, Texas, as preparations were underway for Tuesday’s scheduled flight.

    Trump attends spaceship launch with Musk

    President-elect Donald Trump joined Musk to witness the launch, the last public appearance the two have made after attending UFC 309 together at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

    Trump’s presence at the test flight came as the Republican continues to signal that the tech billionaire will play a major role in his next administration.

    Trump recently selected Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, himself a billionaire and former 2024 presidential candidate, to lead the brand new non-governmental Department of Government Efficiency. In the run-up to the election, Musk regularly appeared at Trump’s rallies and emerged as a major donor to his re-election ambitions.

    What is SpaceX’s spaceship?

    SpaceX has spent years developing and testing the Starship, which is classified as a superheavy launch vehicle and is hailed as the largest and most powerful rocket ever built.

    The entire craft consists of two components: the 165-meter-long Starship spacecraft itself, and the 232-meter-long ‘Super Heavy’ rocket on which it is mounted. SpaceX envisions the powerful spacecraft as a fully reusable transportation system that can carry both people and cargo to Earth’s orbit, the moon and even Mars.

    What happened during Starship’s previous test flights?

    Since April 2023, Starship has undergone five test flights.

    Although the rocket’s first three tests ended in explosions, officials say the rocket has improved with each demonstration they have conducted with the vehicle. The explosions came to an end during the fourth and fifth test flights when Starship successfully landed in the Indian Ocean in both June and October.

    One of the biggest advances in progress also came during the final flight test when SpaceX mission controllers not only returned the rocket booster to the launch site, but also yanked it out of the sky with two giant mechanical arms, nicknamed “chopsticks.”

    Contributions: Reuters

    Eric Lagatta covers the latest and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]

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